ELECTRONOMICON

I saw some cheap day-glo paints at our local
pharmacy a few weeks ago.

The wrapper claimed that it was totally kid-safe,
non-toxic, washable, yadda-yadda.

Since the company that markets these paints is
affiliated with Elmer's glue, I figured that the
binder for the pigment would be some glue or other
that might rinse out if I diluted it with enough
water and let it settle for a while.

I came across this account the other day:

" Such, then, is the way in which the Arabians obtain
their frankincense; their manner of collecting the
cassia is the following:

- They cover all their body and their face with the
hides of oxen and other skins, leaving only holes for
the eyes, and thus protected go in search of the cassia,
which grows in a lake of no great depth.

All round the shores and in the lake itself there dwell
a number of winged animals, much resembling bats, which
screech horribly, and are very valiant.

These creatures they must keep from their eyes all the
while that they gather the cassia. "

~ from *THE HISTORY OF HERODOTUS*
by Herodotus circa 440 BCE
Translated by George Rawlinson in 1858-1860
The Third Book, Entitled THALIA

http://tinyurl.com/qvsok

I spend a lot of time trying to suss out what cobbers
like Herodotus and Pliny might have had on their minds
when they go on about stuff like this. Occasionally it
pays off - as, for example, when Pliny set me off on a
tangent regarding the manufacture of gems.

                            KONOPIE

Here is the original article that re-kindled
all the old arguments about the presence of
cannabis in the Torah / Old Testament when
it was printed in 1975:

EARLY DIFFUSION AND FOLK USES OF HEMP
SULA BENET < -aka- SARA BENETOWA >

[ from *Cannabis and Culture*, Vera Rubin &
Lambros Comitas, (eds.), 1975, pgs. 39-49 ]

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing volume of literature on the subject of
hemp, the historical routes of its diffusion remain obscure
and there is scant reference to its ubiquitous role in folk
ritual, magic and medicine among European peasantry.

The term cannabis, itself, has been considered to be of
Indo-European origin. The paper re-examines the origin of
the term cannabis to demonstrate its derivation from Semitic
languages.

There was a bit of activity on the Abramelin(sic)
Yahoo!-list the other day, regarding the identity of
keneh bosem, and I have pasted part of my response
below:

                   -----)O(-----

See the entry "Exodus » Chapter 30", from
'Navigating the BIBLE', on bible.ort.org:

fragrant cane

Keneh bosem in Hebrew. Ancient sources identify
this with the sweet calamus (Septuagint; Rambam on
Kerithoth 1:1; Saadia; Ibn Janach). This is the
sweet flag or flag-root, Acoras calamus which grows
in Europe.

It appears that a similar species grew in the Holy
Land, in the Hula region in ancient times
(Theophrastus, History of Plants 9:7). Other sources
apparently indicate that it was the Indian plant,
Cympopogan martini, which has the form of red straw
(Yad, Kley HaMikdash 1:3).

On the basis of cognate pronunciation and Septuagint
readings, some identify Keneh bosem with the English
and Greek *cannabis*, the hemp plant.

There are, however, some authorities who identify the
'sweet cane' with cinnamon bark (Radak, Sherashim).
Some say that kinman is the wood, and keneh bosem is
the bark (Abarbanel).

http://tinyurl.com/zdq5x

See also the following dictionaries:

Hayim Baltsan ~ Webster's New World Hebrew Dictionary:
Hebrew/English English/Hebrew, 1994, ISBN: 0671889915,
pg. 650.

Eliezer ben-Yehuda ~ Pocket English-Hebrew/ Hebrew-English
Dictionary, 1961 [ re-issued 1989, ISBN: 0671688626 ],
pg. 140.

[ see also: Eliezer ben-Yehuda ~ A Complete Dictionary
of Ancient and Modern Hebrew, in 8 volumes; NY: Thomas
Yoseloff, 1960. ]

The modern Hebrew word transliterated as 'kanabos' is
translated as "hemp", the English word for cannabis.

Taken together, these dictionaries suggest that
cannabis : kaneh bosem : kanabos - and *not*
Calamus - is an ingredient of the original anointing
oil described in Exodus 30, if not an ingredient of
the anointing oils manufactured for Thelemites, &tc.

See, too, the entries regarding hemp in Abano, Wierus,
Agrippa, Lilly, &tc.

And for more along these lines, I recommend:

Claudia Muller-Ebeling & Christian Ratsch ~
Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices,
and Forbidden Plants, 2003, ISBN: 0892819715.

20-Year-Old High-Temperature Superconductivity Theory Verified from PhysOrg.com

A French-German team of experimental scientists, led by Philippe Bourges of the Commissariat а l'Energie Atomique, France, reports that it has verified the central prediction of a theory on high-temperature superconductivity developed by Chandra Varma, distinguished professor of physics at UC Riverside. The verification ultimately could assist in the fabrication of materials that are superconducting at room temperature and help settle a contentious, international debate on the fundamental physics of superconductivity and emergent states of matter.
[...]

Sol 4° Gemini,
Luna 22° Taurus
Dies Veneris

Tonight Ray and Ron Peterson performed Creem's
"Tales of Brave Ulysses" in Jerusalem:

TALES OF BRAVE ULYSSES
by Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp

You thought the leaden winter
would bring you down forever,
But you rode upon a steamer
to the violence of the sun.

And the colours of the sea
bind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches
with tales of brave Ulysses,
How his naked ears were tortured
by the sirens sweetly singing,
For the sparkling waves are calling you
to kiss their white laced lips.

And you see a girl's brown body
dancing through the turquoise,
And her footprints make you follow
where the sky loves the sea.
And when your fingers find her,
she drowns you in her body,
Carving deep blue ripples
in the tissues of your mind.

The tiny purple fishes
run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you
to the heartland of the winter.

Her name is Aphrodite
and she rides a crimson shell,
And you know you cannot leave her
for you touched the distant sands
With tales of brave Ulysses,
how his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing.

The tiny purple fishes
run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you
to the heartland of the winter.

Consummatum Est.

Now playing: Nikhil Banerjee - Bhairavi - Gat in rupak tal

Darren Fox, aka “Brother MOLOCH”, posted an interesting
question to the Hyatt list today, regarding the identity
of the ‘Bluestone’ originally employed in Hoodoo.

Since the currently available Bluestone of the trade that
is found in Botanicas &tc. varies widely in both nature and
quality, it is not a bad idea to see if perhaps the identity
of 'Bluestone' might be resolved, so that an authentic
substance or composition might once again enter into
common usage.